Gift
what am I accepting
when I accept this gift
is it a sign of an emotional bond
one that I’m not interested in
that I haven’t instigated
it’s not that I don’t like you
but I’m not that invested
<>
I know the gift comes from a good place
that one cannot have too many friends
but at the same time
one can be
shall we say
discerning
the gift comes without strings
I can accept it
say thanks
but never
you shouldn’t have
Actually that last line is a lie. I said ‘you shouldn’t have’ recently when someone I handed me a bottle wine as a Christmas gift. Being a non-drinker I declined as graciously as possible. He was more distressed at not knowing me well enough to realize I don’t drink. It never came up in the context of our friendship. Neither of us ever needed a few to loosen up.
I am a fairly generous guy partly because of recovery – one of the slogans is ‘to keep it you have to give it away’ Recovery continues by sharing it with ours when called to do so. Though the thing with gifts is often the the strings are attached by the getter not the giver. The kind gesture is mistaken for something more promising.
People project an agenda when there isn’t one & then get sort of huffy when there isn’t one. So as a giver I’ve become a little more aware of what I give to avoid unnecessary complications. Socks are a fun neutral gift, underwear, though fun, is not so neutral, a jockstrap is fun but clearly not neutral. A wrestling singlet? Well, that’s a whole different blog post.
TOpoet 